WAC Archives: 2001 Conference

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2001 State Conference, Concert 1

Organ Works
Friday, March 30, 2001
8 p.m., Eastman Organ Recital Hall

Toccata, Passacaglia, and Fugue	James Bohn
David Bohn, organ
(1995-96 - 9')
Partita on "What Wondrous Love"	Christopher Frye
David Bohn, organ
(1999 - 6') Partita on "What Wondrous Love" was commissioned by Carson Cooman and is published by CP Press publications. The work uses the old shape-note hymn from the "Sacred Harp" hymnal as the basis for several sections of varying textures and tempos.
Three Pieces for Organ I Prelude II Eucharistic Interlude III Postlude	Colin Oakes
David Bohn, organ
(1994 - 10') This set of pieces was composed in early 1994 for the occasion of my mother's ordination to the Episcopal priesthood. They are meant to be used as a prelude, interlude, and postlude to a church service, and, along with the ordination service for my mother, it has been in that capacity that they have been performed. The first piece, "Prelude," is just that; it's performed before the service begins, greeting the congregation as they enter the church and find their seats among the pews. The second piece, "Eucharistic Interlude," is meant to provide "background music" as the congregants take communion (part of the service sometimes known as "the Musical Offering"). The third piece, "Postlude," is performed when the service ends, accompanying the congregation as they gather their belongings and leave.
Song Without Words	John Jeffrey Gibbens
David Bohn, organ
(2000 - 4') Song Without Words is part of an untitled series of instrumental works inspired by outstanding student, now professional, musicians whom I met and worked with at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1990s, including tonight's performer David Bohn. In planning the work, I tried to keep in mind that the organ is a collection of wind instruments rather than a surrogate orchestra. Song Without Words was the winning work in the Madison Chapter of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers' (MadWAC's) 2001 "First(!), Listen!" competition for a new work for solo organ. Tonight's performance is the work's premiere.
"a piacere" I allegro commodo II tempo commodo, a piacere III tempo lento, quasi misterioso e languendo IV sempre molto marcato	Joel Naumann
Ryan Meisel, soprano saxophone; John Chappell Stowe, organ
(1979 - 11') "a piacere" for trumpet and optional keyboard instrument was written for an Australian trumpet player who would be touring Europe and wanted a showpiece for his solo recitals, a piece that could be done with any available keyboard instrument, or with none at all. The only trumpet players in the Madison area who could play it are next door in Mills Hall right now, playing a concert with the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. Rather than loose the piece for this concert, a few minor revisions have transformed it into a piece for soprano saxophone and organ.
Unexpected Death	Tom Haag
Tom Haag, organ
(2000 - 4') Unexpected Death was inspired by the loss of a fellow student's baby after several month's pregnancy. It is a serial piece. It begins mildly, almost tonally in the opening measures, builds to a climax, then retreats to a quiet, moving contrapuntal section and ends as it began.
Image	Warren Gooch
David Bohn, organ
(1987 - 9') Image was premiered by Prof. John Chappell Stowe at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988. This is an introspective, contemplative piece. It is constructed on multiple levels of symmetry with respect to pitch, rhythm, harmony, microstructure, and macrostructure.
Chorale Prelude on "O Sacred Head Now Wounded"	Charma Davies Lepke
David Bohn, organ
(1990 - 2') The composer writes: "On Maunday Thursday for years I've played those wonderful preludes on O Sacred Head Now Wounded by Buxtehude, Bach, Brahms, Karg-Elert, and Dupre. For my own setting, I looked for mood and a 'today' sound, fragmenting that great moving melody."
Chorale Prelude on "Long Years Ago"	Robert Crane
David Bohn, organ
(1951 - 2') The Chorale Prelude on "Long Years Ago" was composed for "A Christmas Carol Service" at First University Methodist Church in Madison. The hymn tune itself is a traditional English one, going by the name "Ancient Herefordshire."
Tricinium, Op. 187 I Rubando II Vivo III Rigore	Michael G. Cunningham
David Bohn, organ
(1997- 15') Tricinium is named after the three essential "voices" an organist presents: two hands and pedals. This work is nevertheless a three-movement sonata with each movement in a familiar form. The music is abstract in that it draws from itself in its forward motion. In addition to ordinary kinds of linear counterpoint, there has been an attempt to vary the perceived texture. In the third movement, for instance, there are spots where two voices challenge one another for the same pitch area. And, discounting all the chromatic pitch information, this work might well be perceived as quite classic in nature. This is the work's premiere performance.

Composer Biographies

James Bohn (Dartmouth, MA) received his Bachelor of Music from the UW-Madison and his Masters and Doctorate from the University of Illinois. He currently teaches Electronic Music and Music Theory at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, where he also performs with the Creative Arts Consort. His music appears on several recording labels, and he has received commissions from the University of Illinois School of Music and the Boston and Chicago Chapters of the American Composer's Forum.

Robert Crane (Madison) was born December 24, 1919 in Winchester, Mass. He studied composition at Oberlin College and the University of Rochester-Eastman School of Music. He taught music at the UW-Madison from 1950-1991. Crane is now retired and living in Madison.

Michael G. Cunningham (Altoona) holds Theory and Composition degrees from Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Indiana University, and has taught those subjects at the UW-Eau Claire since 1973. His catolog contains over 200 compositions and arrangements for all manner of media and instrumentations. (About 100 of these are published by Seesaw Music Corp. in NYC.) Lately, he has been writing a series of articles for the WAC Newsletter. Aside from much classroom instruction, over the years he has taught private composition to about 120 students, a proportion of whom have been able to involve composition in their careers.

Christopher Frye (La Crosse) is currently Associate Professor of Theory and Composition at the UW-La Crosse. He received degrees in composition from Capitol University and The College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where his principal teachers were Scott Huston and Jonathan Kramer. His music has been performed throughout the United States by ensembles such as the Milwaukee Symphony, and The Cincinnati Choral Society, and at national and regional festivals sponsored by organizations such as The Society of Composers, Inc., the American Composers Forum, the Cincinnati Composer's Guild, The Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, Inc., the Cleveland Composer's Guild, Memphis State University New Music Festival, and the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association. He has been awarded prizes by the ARTAMA agency of the Czech Republic, the University of Maryland, and the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, and has been commissioned to write music for the La Crosse Chamber Chorale, the Music Fix chamber ensemble of Madison, and the UW-La Crosse Symphony. Mr. Frye was a founding member of the Cincinnati Composer's Guild and is currently President of The Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, Inc.

John Jeffrey Gibbens (Carbondale, IL) is a charter member of WAC, and has served on the statewide Board of Directors since 1997. Gibbens worked as an independent scholar, free-lance accompanist, and archivist in Madison from 1984 to 2001. He recently joined the library faculty at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale as a Cataloger. Part of his assignment is to work with the SIU School of Music to develop music and research collections. Gibbens has been an active performer of new piano music in the state, including the works of a long list of UW composers.

Warren Gooch (Kirksville, MO) has been performed widely throughout North America and Europe. He is the recipient of over thirty composition awards and paid commissions, and publishers include Southern, Kjos, Alliance, Flammer, Plymouth, and others. His music has received recognition from the National Federation of Music Clubs, American Choral Directors Association, the International Trumpet Guild, the Percussive Arts Society, the Minnesota Orchestra, and a number of other cultural organizations. One of his orchestral works is available on compact disk from MMC Recordings. Completing his doctorate in composition at the UW-Madison, his composition teachers have included Stephen Dembski, Joel Naumann, Eric Stokes (University of Minnesota), and Mary Mageau (Scholastica College). Currently, Gooch chairs the theory-composition area and helps coordinate the music graduate program at Truman State University, where he has twice been a finalist for that university's "Educator of the Year" award. He is also active in church music.

Tom Haag (La Crosse) has been organist for several local churches in the La Crosse area and is currently organist at First Congregational Church in La Crosse. Tom now studies organ with John Chappell Stowe at the UW-Madison and for the last two years he has been taking music theory and history courses at the UW-La Crosse. He also works at Sears and owns a painting business.

Charma Davies Lepke (Delavan) is a composer, an organist, and a piano teacher. She earned her BA at Wellesly College, and an MA in Organ with Carl Weinrich. She studied theory with Nadia Boulanger and Hubert Lamb and earned an MMus in Piano with Rudolph Reuter at the American Conservatory of Music. She taught piano in Virginia and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1945 to 1950. She was the music editor for Amagama Okuhlabelela (a Zulu Hymnal) in South Africa from 1950 to 1956. She won the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs First Prize in Composition in 1960 and 1961. She composes primarily piano, organ, and choral compositions. She is a member of the AGO and the MTNA, and a founder of a local Musical Arts Society.

Joel Naumann (New Glarus--Belleville) received his musical education at Manhattan School of Music, Long Island University, where he studied with Stefan Wolpe, and the University of Utah. While teaching at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., he managed the Contemporary Music Forum, one of that city's premiere new music groups, and founded The Washington Sinfonia, a 35-member Baroque-Classical orchestra with a regular concert series on Capitol Hill. After a year in Australia as Fulbright Composer in Residence at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, he came to Madison in 1980, where he rebuilt the electronic music studio program and developed the two undergraduate foundation courses in the composition major. He was the principal founder of The Wisconsin Alliance for Composers in 1984 and has served it in various capacities since then. This is at least the fourth (or fifth?) WAC State Conference he has hosted at the UW-Madison.

Colin Oakes (Milwaukee) began his undergraduate studies as a music major at the UW-Madison where he took composition classes with Stephen Dembski, Robert Crane, and Joel Naumann. He graduated at the end of the fall semester in 1990 with a BA in Philosophy. He is currently an assistant football coach and doctoral candidate in philosophy at Marquette University. His dissertation title is From Meaning to Metaphysics: The Philosophy of Michael Dummett, which is being directed by T. Michael McNulty, SJ. Aside from his dissertation, Colin is working on a book detailing the history of football at Marquette. Along with The Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, Colin's professional memberships include the American Philosophical Association, the Association for Symbolic Logic, and the American Football Coaches Association.

2001 Conference
[Concert 1] [Concert 2] [Concert 3] [Concert 4] [Concert 5] [Concert 6] [Concert 7]

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